Evolve

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 in Evolve presents a fascinating study in generational imbalance. The data reveals a system where a flagship, modern GPU is tethered to a six-core processor from 2018, and the resulting frame rates tell a story of both immense graphical headroom and significant CPU-bound limitations. This analysis explores how this specific combination behaves across resolutions and settings, using only the measured figures provided.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how the RTX 4080's workload changes as resolution increases, but also where the i5-9400 begins to assert its influence. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 212 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 185 FPS, a 27 FPS reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 128 FPS. This pattern indicates that even at lower graphical fidelity, the performance ceiling is being lifted by the GPU's raw power, but the scaling is not linear. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 12.7%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is a more substantial 30.8%. This suggests that as pixel count increases, the GPU is doing more work, but the CPU is still able to feed it enough data to maintain high frame rates.

The scaling becomes more telling when examining the High preset. At 1080p High, the system produces 177 FPS. This drops to 137 FPS at 1440p High, a 22.6% decrease, and then to 78 FPS at 4K High, a 43.1% decrease from the 1440p figure. This steeper decline at higher resolutions with more demanding settings points to the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor. The RTX 4080 is a 4K-capable card, but this data suggests that in Evolve, it requires a significant amount of graphical load before its full potential is realized without being bottlenecked by the CPU.

The most telling data point for CPU limitation is the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 141 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 95 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 54 FPS. The difference between 1080p and 1440p Ultra is a 46 FPS drop, which is a 32.6% reduction. This is a larger percentage drop than the Low preset's scaling between the same resolutions. This indicates that the combination of high resolution and Ultra settings is placing a massive load on the GPU, with the CPU having less of an impact on the final frame rate. The data implies that at lower resolutions and settings, the i5-9400's six cores are likely the ceiling, while at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4080 is finally being pushed to its limits.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate recorded for this combo in Evolve?*

A: The highest average is 212 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the frame rate at 4K Ultra compare to 4K Low?

A: The 4K Ultra preset yields an average of 54 FPS, while 4K Low yields 128 FPS. This represents a 74 FPS difference, showing a significant performance cost for the highest visual fidelity.

Q: Is there a large performance gap between the Medium and High presets at 1440p?

A: Yes, the data shows a notable difference. At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 169, while at 1440p High, it is 137 FPS. This is a 32 FPS drop, suggesting that High settings introduce a substantial increase in GPU workload compared to Medium.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the entire dataset?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 84 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Medium settings. This is the only row with a minFps value that is below 100.

*Q: How does the combo's performance rank among all tested combinations for Evolve?*

A: The combo is ranked 652 out of 3700 tested combos, placing it in the top 17.6% of all configurations.

Q: Does the data show a clear bottleneck at 1080p Low?

A: The data is suggestive. At 1080p Low, the system produces 212 FPS. The incremental gains from reducing resolution from 1440p to 1080p are 27 FPS, while the gain from 4K to 1440p is 57 FPS. This smaller gain at the lowest resolution could indicate that the CPU is nearing its limit, preventing the GPU from pushing even higher frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a desktop processor with 6 cores and 6 threads, based on the Coffee Lake architecture. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz and it boosts up to 4.10 GHz. It has 9 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 6629 points in Cinebench R23 multicore and 935 points in the single-core test. Its average benchmark score is 2254, placing it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs.

The nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2% delta), Intel Core i7-10710U (2248, +0.3% delta), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246, +0.4% delta), and Intel Core i3-10305 (2264, -0.4% delta). This places the i5-9400 in a performance tier with these processors, which are all quite similar in overall computational power. For a game released in 2015 like Evolve, these six cores are generally sufficient, but the data suggests they can be a limiting factor when paired with a GPU as fast as the RTX 4080.

Looking at the measured FPS, the scaling from 1080p Low to 1440p Low results in a 27 FPS drop. When the resolution is increased again to 4K Low, the FPS drops by a larger 57 FPS. This non-linear scaling is a classic sign of a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU is waiting for the CPU to finish processing the game logic and draw calls. The RTX 4080 is more than capable of rendering far more than 212 frames per second at this resolution and setting, but the i5-9400's 6-thread ceiling prevents it from doing so. The data implies that a more powerful CPU would allow the RTX 4080 to achieve even higher frame rates at 1080p and 1440p.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the most balanced experience appears to be at 1440p with Medium settings. This configuration yields an average of 169 FPS, with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 194 FPS. This provides a frame rate well above the 144Hz refresh rate of many gaming monitors, while still delivering a substantial visual upgrade over the Low preset. The 144 FPS minimum also suggests a stable experience without major dips.

For users with a 4K display, the data suggests that the Medium preset is the optimal choice. At 4K Medium, the combo achieves an average of 99 FPS, with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS. This is a very playable frame rate for a fast-paced FPS, and the 84 FPS minimum is acceptable. While the High preset at 4K offers 78 FPS, the Medium preset provides a significant jump in performance headroom for a likely minor visual difference.

At 1080p, the High preset provides an excellent experience with an average of 177 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 141 FPS, which is still very smooth, but the High preset offers a better balance. The Low preset is the only one that breaks the 200 FPS barrier at 212 FPS, which might appeal to competitive players with 240Hz monitors. However, the visual compromise is severe. The data shows that the Medium preset at 1440p and 4K offers the best compromise between visual fidelity and performance, avoiding the heavy performance penalty of the Ultra preset while providing a much better experience than Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination is ranked 652 out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the 82nd percentile of all tested configurations, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of systems. This high ranking is primarily driven by the exceptional power of the RTX 4080. The GPU's raw compute capabilities are so high that even when bottlenecked by the CPU, the system still delivers frame rates that are better than most.

The RTX 4080's synthetic benchmarks support this. It scores 34457 in Passmark G3D and 214739 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% delta), AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (-1.1% delta), and AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (-2.6% delta). The GPU's average benchmark score is 54247, which is over 24 times higher than the CPU's average score of 2254.

This disparity highlights the nature of this pairing. The combo's rank of 652 reflects the GPU's ability to brute-force high frame rates. However, the data from the resolution scaling suggests that this rank could be significantly higher with a more modern, higher-core-count processor. The i5-9400, with its 47th percentile ranking, is holding the RTX 4080 back from reaching its full potential, especially at lower resolutions. This combo is a perfect example of how a GPU can dominate a system's overall gaming performance, even when paired with a dated CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

This section details the exact measured FPS values for each resolution and settings combination.

1920x1080:

• Low: Average FPS is 212. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.
• Medium: Average FPS is 193, with a minimum of 164 FPS and a maximum of 222 FPS.
• High: Average FPS is 177. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.
• Ultra: Average FPS is 141. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.

2560x1440:

• Low: Average FPS is 185. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.
• Medium: Average FPS is 169, with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 194 FPS.
• High: Average FPS is 137. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.
• Ultra: Average FPS is 95. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.

3840x2160:

• Low: Average FPS is 128. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.
• Medium: Average FPS is 99, with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS.
• High: Average FPS is 78. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.
• Ultra: Average FPS is 54. Minimum and maximum values are not recorded.

The data shows a clear trend of decreasing performance as resolution increases. The gaps between settings are also consistent, with Ultra being the most demanding and Low being the least. The only rows with min and max FPS data are the Medium presets, which show a stable frame rate window at all three resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing. It is built on the 5 nm process with the AD103 chip and has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. Its boost clock is 2505 MHz, and it features 9728 shading units. It has a massive 45,900 million transistors and a die size of 379 mm². The GPU's launch MSRP is 1,199 USD.

In Evolve, the GPU's role is to render the game's environments and effects. The synthetic benchmarks show its immense power, with an FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s. The data shows that the RTX 4080 is the reason this combo ranks well, as its performance is so high that it can overcome the CPU's limitations. At 4K Ultra, the 54 FPS average is a direct result of the GPU being pushed to its absolute limit with the most demanding settings.

The GPU's performance relative to its rivals is notable. It is 0.1% behind the RTX 4080 SUPER and 1.1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X. This places it in a tight performance band with other high-end cards. The data suggests that the RTX 4080 is not the limiting factor at any resolution except for 4K Ultra. At 1080p and 1440p, and at 4K Low through High, the GPU is likely waiting for the CPU to provide more work. The 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for Evolve, ensuring that memory capacity is not a bottleneck. The GPU's high clock speeds and immense compute resources are what allow it to deliver the high frame rates seen in the data, even when paired with a weaker processor.